Dempsey Hall, 1930s-1940s

Our University of Wisconsin collection has such great images we love highlighting them.  Today I'm going to focus on one of our newer collections. The History of UW-Oshkosh collection documents the evolution of this campus over time.  This collection is still evolving and includes published materials, books, images, recordings and other archival materials. 


The collection has great images of buildings, students and activities on campus.   The image on the left is of Dempsey Hall taken in the 1930s-1940s.  Today Dempsey Hall is the oldest building on campus. 

Female Students at Dempsey Hall

But this collection is not just old shots of buildings, it also has some quirky shots of students. This image on the right shows three female students standing on a light post in front of Dempsey Hall in 1932.  


This collection has tons of interesting images. From giant elephant decorations in the front yards of houses, to cheerleaders striking a pose and images of students taken all over campus, this collection is just fun to look at.  


Take moment out of your busy day and check out this collection. 

Lagoon in Tenney Park

At this point in winter, I am starting to think about how excited I am for summer to come so I can spend some lazy summer days in Madison's beautiful parks.  But I've never thought about how those parks came to be. Recently we went live with a collection dedicated to the Madison Park and Pleasure Drive Association, these are the people who helped create the parks we have today.

Maple Bluff, Farewell Drive

The Madison Park and Pleasure Drive Association Reports and Related Materials collection provides accessibility to early information about the City of Madison around the turn of the 20th century.  The reports detail money coming in and going out and work done on various parks and pleasure drives. The drives and parks that this group helped create are an integral part of our Madison community. 


During the turn of the 20th century, the Madison Park and Pleasure Drive Association wanted to attract attention to this cities beautiful lakes. They wanted to make Madison a popular place for summer vacation homes and visitors. 


If you've ever wondered how our parks and pleasure drives were constructed take a look at this new collection.  And cross your fingers that we will be able to enjoy our Madison parks soon. 

The whole nation is watching the protests going on at the capitol right now. Here at the UWDC office we wanted to share some history of protests on the UW campus.  

Have any of you been apart of past protests on campus.  Our UW-Madison History collection contains tons of images from protests and other events on campus, but on our Flikr we have highlighted the protest images into one easy to view collection.    

Take a look at our Protest at UW-Madison set on Flickr and maybe you could learn a little more about the history of protests on campus.  

Love Rock, Wisconsin Dells

As I'm sure we all know, today is Valentine's Day.  We want to celebrate by highlighting everything love related in our collections.

First lets start with this image of Love Rock in the Wisconsin Dells. The image was taken in 1908, and is part of our Brittingham Lantern Slides Collection.  I couldn't find any information out about this Love Rock or the history behind it but maybe you know the story. Care to share with us?

I Love Her Just the Same

Maybe for Valentine's Day some of you sang a song, wrote a song, made a mix tape or used music in some way to make the day romantic. Well did you use this song? I Love Her Just the Same is a song from 1896 found in our Wisconsin Sheet Music Database.  The chorus starts off: I love her, yes I love her just the same. If you didn't add this to your music selection, you might want to think about it.

Crown Imperial

Or some of you may have received flowers from your significant other. Were they as pretty as these? These flowers are from our Bowles's Florist book in the Decorative Arts collection.  The book contains images of flowers with instructions on how to draw and color them according to nature. The flowers are beautiful maybe you can find the ones you received in this book.

Today is really just about celebrating love.  So take a moment to celebrate who you love or what you love.

Well for all of you evolution lovers, it is that time of year again, Darwin Day! The UW will hold its 6th annual Darwin Day Celebration from February 10-12. This year the UW has planned lectures, films, and family-friendly activities to celebrate evolution.  So for any of you that love Darwin come out and join in on the activities. 


For Darwin Day we wanted to share our Galapagos Collection. This collection documents the University of Wisconsin Madison Zoological Museum's expeditions to the Galapagos islands. Since 1978, UWZM has been one of only 3 museums granted permission by the Ecuadorian Government to collect, preserve, transport, and maintain scientific anatomical specimens from the Galápagos Islands.


This collection contains interesting materials for any Darwin fan.  Take a peek and let us know what you think!